Start-Up 2000 (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.1 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Tim Soete
• Reviewed on: 09/06/2000
• Released on: 09/01/2000
• Originally published on GameSpot: Start-Up 2000 (PC) Review

While the idea of a game that's purely a business simulation might sound unappealing, it doesn't mean a game based on managing lots of money can't be fun. The appeal comes from the way that such games let you live out an entrepreneurial fantasy in a risk-free game environment. Unfortunately, French developer MonteCristo Multimedia's latest business simulation, Start-Up 2000, hardly makes this fantasy enjoyable. Several factors in the game contribute to what's simply a confusing experience that at times seems too much like real work than like play.

Start-Up 2000 lets you build a high-tech company from the ground up and offers you a chance to become very rich at doing so. You begin the game by choosing the type of product you want to manufacture. You have three options: a mobile video phone, a cyber television, and - interestingly enough - a next-generation game system. After picking a company name, product name, and logo, you find yourself in your new office with seed money in your bank account and a plethora of menus in front of you. A news terminal keeps you updated with business trends and e-mails from your partners and staff. At another computer terminal, you can change out components for your product to keep up with technological advancements. Clicking a financial chart on the wall brings you to a management screen that lets you borrow money, find venture capitalists who want to invest, and view your earnings and stock prices on a series of graphs. On yet another management screen, you can plan a marketing strategy and adjust your price to counter your competitors. At the end of the month, overhead is subtracted from your total capital while profits are added.

You can leave your office anytime and enter staff management mode. From here, you can begin hiring staff. The developers apparently went for a graphical style reminiscent of Maxis' popular strategy game The Sims, as all the desks, coffee machines, and workers are portrayed with pastel colors in an isometric perspective. But the graphics could have been much better; for instance, the workers lack personality.

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